1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to vascular stents and, more particularly, to covered vascular stents.
2. Description of Related Technology
In the prior art, it is known to provide a covering for an implantable vascular stent, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,916,264. Such covered stents or stent/grafts are used for a variety of vascular treatments, but have particular usefulness in endovascular applications to support or maintain the patency of the natural vessel. Depending on the particular needs of a patient, a specific stent/cover combination is chosen as a treatment. Generally, however, stent coverings are emplaced on the stent at a manufacturing facility. As a result, medical practitioners have been traditionally limited in their selection of a stent and covering combination to what is commercially available.
To overcome some of the deficiencies of the prior art, mountable sheaths for emplacement onto a stent have been developed which allow a practitioner to select a particular sheath and stent combination at a point-of-use, beyond the manufacturing facility. A mountable sheath is disclosed in WIPO International Publication No. WO 00/12147, the applicant of which is the same as the assignee herein. The mountable sheath is slitted to facilitate mounting onto a stent, and may be treated with a pharmaceutical agent, radioactive agent, bioactive agent, or a combination thereof. The sheath is attached and retained on the stent using compressive force, glue, a protective sheath, or socks. The compressive force is generated radially (inwardly and/or outwardly), by the sheath itself, the stent, or both. It is, however, desired to provide a simplified method of attaching and retaining the mountable sheath, as well as other sheaths, to a stent.